Chapter 60: Golden Core Tribulation Fire Refines the Mortal Heart
Gale-force winds, carrying broken snow, swept across the Cold Abyss. Lu Qingyang sat cross-legged on a lotus platform carved from ten-thousand-year-old profound ice, the qingmu spirit pearl bobbing in his Dantian like the moon. The Nine Revolutions Golden Core he had consumed three days prior now transformed into a thousand fiery threads, scorching his Meridians with a burnt smell. He suddenly opened his eyes, spat a mouthful of blood out of the ice cave, and the sparks from his fingertips sent a peeking Ice Soul Spider scurrying with squeaks.
“Daoist Lu’s Golden Core Tribulation Fire is even more intense than the Hehuan Sect’s Rouge Burn.” Su Li leaned against a crane-headed lamp stand made of ice crystals, the mermaid silk hanging from her skirt hem rendered translucent by the fire spirit’s glow. She flicked away a Cold Marrow Worm that tried to climb her skirt, and its corpse shattered into ice shards upon hitting the rock wall. “The Profound Yin Earth Veins of Burial Dragon Abyss should suppress fire poison, so why can’t even the Taiyi Pavilion’s ‘Heart Calming Art’ suppress it?”
Lu Qingyang flipped his wrist, revealing a charred burn mark on his palm. The Red Sun Ginseng in his spirit pearl space, which should have taken a thousand years to form, was now oozing crimson sap due to excessive forced ripening. “If Fairy Su is willing to offer half a bowl of her heart’s blood to water this Profound Ice Lotus, Mr. Lu wouldn’t mind sharing twenty percent of his Golden Core Origin with you.” Before he finished speaking, the dome of the ice cave suddenly cracked in a spiderweb pattern, and sulfur-smelling magma dripped down like venomous snakes.
Su Li spun to avoid the lava, and the blue light emanating from the jade pendant at her waist transformed into a nine-tailed fox phantom. The fox phantom actually spoke in human words: “A Nascent Soul Cultivator is fighting three thousand miles away, and one of them is using the Taiyi Pavilion’s ‘Heaven Burning Sword Art’!” Lu Qingyang narrowed his eyes at the news, and the bronze fragment that slipped from his sleeve suddenly became as hot as a branding iron—it was the same one he had obtained from Burial Dragon Abyss years ago, now resonating with the Sword Qi from afar.
“It’s probably that scoundrel Ye Wuchen snatching treasure.” He formed a hand seal to retrieve his spirit pearl, and the Profound Ice Lotus platform exploded into countless ice cones. “Ten years ago, he ruined my Foundation Establishment Opportunity in the Ancient Tomb. Today, this Karma should be repaid.” Before the ice cones could hit the ground, they were crushed into dust by the Golden Core’s pressure. The silver bell on Su Li’s wrist chimed softly, and the Ice Dragon, sleeping deep within the Cold Abyss, raised its head, breaking through the ice, its single horn pointing directly towards the source of the battle.
The thousand-mile barren plain had been plowed into scorched earth by Sword Qi. Ye Wuchen’s white robe was stained with dark purple poisonous blood. His Heaven Burning Sword was plunged into the corpse of a two-headed Demonic Vulture, and the Red Sun Stone embedded in the hilt was frantically extracting the Yao Beast’s essence blood. Ten feet away, the right arm of the Profound Yin Sect Elder was severed at the root, and the wriggling flesh at the wound even grew venomous snake heads.
“A True Disciple of Taiyi Pavilion privately cultivating the ‘Blood Fiend Demonic Technique.’ If this recording stone were to be sent back to the Central Plains…” The old man sneered, tossing up a translucent crystal stone. Within the crystal, the scene of Ye Wuchen devouring a Yao Soul was clearly reflected. His words abruptly ceased as the Ice Dragon’s single horn pierced through his chest. Su Li lightly tapped the Ice Dragon’s head with her toe, and the falling snowflakes condensed into chains, binding the recording stone.
Ye Wuchen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the fire curtain ignited by the Heaven Burning Sword evaporated the ice chains into mist. “When did Junior Sister Su start picking up scraps?” The sword’s edge suddenly changed direction, and a fiery Dragon shot out from the fire curtain, directly attacking a snow hill a hundred feet away. As the snow exploded, Lu Qingyang leaped onto the Ice Dragon’s back, and the bronze fragment collided with the Heaven Burning Sword, producing a piercing shriek.
“Senior Brother Ye’s tactic of burning the bridge after crossing it has become much more skillful than ten years ago.” Lu Qingyang flicked away the ice shards clinging to the sword’s edge, and the withered Red Sun Ginseng in his spirit pearl space suddenly regained vitality. Ye Wuchen’s pupils constricted. The Heaven Burning Sword seemed to be sucked by the bronze fragment, making it difficult to pull out, and wisps of green smoke seeped from the Red Sun Stone on the hilt.
The Elder of the Profound Yin Sect’s remaining body suddenly exploded, and the sky-full of poisonous blood transformed into Talismanic Incantations, striking towards the three of them. The silver bell on Su Li’s wrist trembled violently, and the Ice Dragon’s breath froze half of the poisonous Talismanic Incantations, while the rest were swept into the fire curtain by Ye Wuchen’s sleeve. The moment the flames and ice collided, Lu Qingyang flung seventy-two Spirit Sealing Nails from his sleeve, their trajectory aligning with the stars of the heavens as they plunged into the ground.
“Heaven and Earth Reversal!” He bit his tongue and spat out a mist of blood, and the star Formation Diagram suddenly contracted into a cocoon of light. Ye Wuchen’s Heaven Burning Sword pierced three inches into the light cocoon, then could not advance further. The demonic patterns appearing on the sword began to corrode the wielder in reverse. Su Li seized the Opportunity to retrieve the recording stone, and the Ice Dragon’s long tail swept across, raising a hundred-foot ice wall.
The flow of time within the light cocoon suddenly accelerated. Lu Qingyang chuckled, looking at the hourglass phantom appearing in his palm. “Ten years ago, you trapped me for three days with the Nine Palace Spirit Locking Formation. Today, this ‘Instant Millennium’ Formation is a return of courtesy.” Ye Wuchen’s jade crown, which bound his hair, exploded with a bang. The blood drops falling from his hair evaporated into mist before hitting the ground—his Lifespan was being frantically drained by the Formation.
“Why do you think I lured you to the Northern Wilderness?” Ye Wuchen suddenly abandoned his sword and formed a hand seal. The Heaven Burning Sword transformed into flowing fire, merging into the hundred acupoints around his body. “That Nascent Soul Corpse Puppet from the Ancient Tomb ten years ago, does it still recognize its former master?” The ground trembled violently, and half a bronze coffin crawled out from beneath the ice. Black Qi seeping from the coffin lid’s cracks condensed into a ghostly face, strikingly seven-tenths similar to Lu Qingyang’s.
Su Li’s gasp was drowned out by ghostly wails, and the ice wall cracked inch by inch under the Corpse Puppet’s pressure. Lu Qingyang fiercely pounded his chest, forcing out essence blood. A phantom of the Jianmu Divine Tree emerged from the green light emanating from the qingmu spirit pearl. The moment the Jianmu branches pierced through the bronze coffin, he glimpsed a dark golden pill suspended in the Corpse Puppet’s Dantian—it was clearly the half-strand of Origin that had been stolen from him during his Foundation Establishment!
“So that’s it…” He laughed in extreme anger. All the spiritual plants in his spirit pearl space withered simultaneously, and a massive surge of life energy flowed into the Jianmu’s roots. The Corpse Puppet’s movements suddenly froze, and the dark golden pill broke free from its restraints, flying towards Lu Qingyang, but it exploded into golden rain upon touching the Jianmu. Ye Wuchen seized the Opportunity to break out of the Formation, his left arm, severed at the shoulder, covered in wriggling flesh.
A muffled thunder rumbled from the edge of the ice plain, and a lightning pool vaguely appeared in the vortex of converging tribulation clouds. Lu Qingyang wiped the blood from his face, and the Jianmu phantom, wrapped around the Corpse Puppet’s remains, charged into the sky. “Senior Brother Ye, this is a grand gift that Mr. Lu cannot decline—let’s see how I use this Nascent Soul Corpse Puppet to block the Golden Core Lightning Tribulation!”
Su Li swiftly retreated a hundred miles on the Ice Dragon. When she looked back, she saw the first lightning pillar strike. The Corpse Puppet was annihilated in the lightning, but Lu Qingyang used the momentary gap to hurl the bronze fragment towards the center of the tribulation clouds. The fragment and the spirit pearl collided, producing a Chaos blue light. The tribulation lightning, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, flowed into the medicine field within the pearl, and the withered Red Sun Ginseng instantly bore nine golden fruits.
When the lightning dispersed and the clouds cleared, Lu Qingyang staggered to the ground, lightning plasma flowing from the cracks on the surface of his Golden Core. He picked up Ye Wuchen’s discarded severed arm, and with a light chuckle, slipped off the storage ring from its fingers. “Fairy Su, if you are willing to exchange the recording stone for this Red Sun Fruit, Mr. Lu might be able to lift the Soul Chasing Talismanic Incantation from Taiyi Pavilion for you.”
The Ice Dragon suddenly raised its head and let out a long cry. Seven Flying Swords, bearing the banners of various Sects, appeared on the horizon. Su Li frowned, stroking the silver bell. “The commotion from your Lightning Tribulation has attracted the treasure-hunting teams from the three great Sects.” Lu Qingyang swallowed the Red Sun Fruit, and the cracks on his body healed at a visible rate. “Excellent, I was just worrying about having no one to test this newly comprehended ‘Lightning Strike Wood Spirit Art’…”